Chapter 13 #2
“The next morning, I sat with him at breakfast, desperately wanting to win him back.” She rubbed her palms on her jeans, old memories stirring.
“I placed my hand on his, told him I’d been thinking about him since Canada.
Raynie walked in and saw us.” She swiped at her eyes.
“I apologized afterward. I was sorry I got caught, not sorry for what I’d done. ”
“What happened after Alaska?” His gaze stayed fixed on the distant mountains.
“I got engaged to another guy I met on another fire. Figured a ring would fix what was missing in me.” She stared down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. “Broke it off after a month once I admitted I didn’t love him.”
A helicopter beat across the sky to the north and faded into the smoke. Colton waited.
“I’ve worked hard to better myself. Even went to therapy.
The tree and grizzly bear incidents only hardened my resolve to change.
” She turned to look him in the eye, her voice coming out raw.
“My liking to spend time with you isn’t me filling an emptiness or proving anything to anyone.
I have actual feelings for you.” She wanted badly to reach for him and close the distance.
But he stared ahead with a solemn expression, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles, hands in his pockets.
“My track record’s not pretty. I know that. But it’s behind me now.” She said it as much for herself as for him.
His jaw eased. “Took a lot of courage, tellin’ me all that.”
“Guess I’m kind of emotional. Tomorrow’s the anniversary of my dad’s death.”
His brows lifted. “That’s a hard day to carry.”
“After Dad died, my mother came apart. Grief ate her up, and she went through one man after another, sure each one would keep her from growing old alone.”
He let out a long breath. “Sounds like losing your dad hit you both real hard.”
She picked at the label on her water bottle. “I was young and didn’t know any better. Figured I needed a man so I wouldn’t end up alone like her. So, I threw myself at anyone who’d let me, like throwing spaghetti at a wall, hoping it would stick.”
He pulled his legs closer and hunched forward, toying with a piece of grass. “When my mom passed, it gutted my dad so much he never remarried.”
“I’m sorry about your mom.” She met his eyes. “Hard losing a parent, isn’t it?”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “They say time heals, but all it does is rearrange the pain.”
Deanna swallowed past the sudden thickness in her throat. “Right. I know that pain.”
Smoke smudged the far ridges, softening the Pintlers to ominous shadows.
She took a chance and plunged deeper. “Most people assume I’ve slept with a lot of guys, but I really haven’t. I was only casting for trout to see if any would latch onto my hook.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I like your fishing reference. Remember, I’m a fly fisherman.”
“All that casting, but I wouldn’t keep the fish after I reeled them in. Always tossed them back.” She fixed him with an unblinking stare. “It’s important that you understand I’m not promiscuous, like people say.”
He held up his hands. “Honestly, I’ve not once thought that about you.”
She had an aching need for him to understand. “I’m laying it out, so you have the absolute truth. Please believe me.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He hesitated. “I need some time to sit with all this.”
“Yeah, I get that.” She’d given him everything that her bruised soul had hung onto for God knows how long.
They walked back toward base, the hush between them stretching wide as the valley. He came to a standstill at her tent. “It means a lot that you felt comfortable confiding in me.”
“Talk tomorrow?” The words came out thinner than she wanted.
“Sure.” He stepped back and headed for his truck, hands jammed deep in his jacket as if he carried a hidden load he couldn’t set down.
The finality in his stride unraveled her, and she couldn’t shake the dread that Colton was walking away for good. Maybe she’d told him too much.
Deanna had the overwhelming urge to run after him, to beg him not to give up on her. It took a salvo load of self-discipline for her not to do it. She bit her lip, paralyzed by the thought of losing him.
All those sleepless nights lying awake, vowing to change, crossing her fingers and toes. Yet fate had a way of swooping down to mess it all up. Maybe she’d tried too hard and messed things up in her zeal to convince Colton not to listen to rumors and hearsay.
Tears welled. Deanna chided herself for her weakness, staying outside to get it together. When she’d calmed, she opened the tent flap to find Kylie slouched on her cot, frowning at her phone.
“Hey.” A distraction from her own turmoil sounded perfect right now. “What’s going on?”
Kylie looked up. “Weird things are going on.”
“After the day I’ve had, weird sounds like a relief.” Deanna sank onto her cot, tugging off her boots.
“I’ve been getting strange messages.” Kylie held out her phone. “Started the night before last. Talking about seeing me at fires, observing me work.”
Deanna examined the screen. A recent message read: You’re a vision in your yellows. The way you handle a chainsaw is poetry.
Unease snagged in her gut. “Ky, you sprained your ankle in the burnover. You’ve been on light duty for days, nowhere near a saw.”
Kylie’s face lost its color. “Then how does he know what I look like running one?”
“Because he’s seen you running one on a fireline.” A chill traced Deanna’s spine. “This isn’t Ace messing around, is it?”
“Heavens, no. He said if he texted me, I’d know it came from him. Look here, it gets worse.” Kylie scrolled to another message: We’re meant to be together. You’ll see why soon.
Alarm crept through Deanna. “Have you told anyone about this?”
“Just Ace. He thinks someone’s stalking me. He wants me to report it to the county law enforcement office, but I don’t want to make a big deal out of it if it’s a prank.”
“Yeah, some prank.” Deanna thought about the fuel and water truck sabotage, the thefts, and the resulting tension around the base camp. “I don’t think you should ignore this. Too many strange things have been happening here.”
Kylie drew her knees to her chest. “Ace said the same thing. He’s been walking me everywhere, making sure I’m not alone.”
“A romantic stalker.” Deanna’s deadpan made Kylie laugh. “Report it to our jump boss.”
“I’ll tell Rooster tomorrow.”
They turned in. Deanna lay awake long after Kylie’s breathing evened out, staring into the dark.
Her phone made no sound on the cardboard box beside her cot. No goodnight text from Colton. She picked it up, typed three different messages, and deleted each one. She set the phone face-down and tucked the sleeping bag under her chin.
Kylie’s phone buzzed in the dark.
Then it buzzed again. And again.
Deanna propped herself on one elbow. Kylie hadn’t stirred, but her phone kept lighting up on the stack of boxes between them, insistent notifications pulsing like a nuisance. Deanna reached over and tilted the screen toward her.
Seven new messages from an unknown number. The preview of the latest one glowed in the dark: I’ve watched you sleep. You’re so pretty when you’re sleeping.
A chill waved through Deanna, and she sat bolt upright, scrutinizing the tent walls as if someone lurked on the other side.
But it was only the base camp lights casting shadows.
She grabbed her phone and texted Ace: Come to our tent first thing tomorrow morning.
Kylie keeps getting these weird stalker texts!
She tried to sleep, but every sound kept her on edge. Distant rotors that normally lulled her to sleep. Footsteps to and from the restrooms in the command center. The whisper of wind through the pines. Her bear spray sat within easy reach on their makeshift nightstand of stacked cardboard boxes.
She could spray someone’s face in a heartbeat if she had to.
Here’s hoping I won’t have to do that.